Skopje Raises NATO Flag at Tuesday Ceremony

The nascent Republic of North Macedonia raised a NATO flag at its main government building today, as members of the military alliance continued to ratify the country’s accession agreement.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Tuesday thanked parliamentarians in Athens and Skopje for ratifying the Prespa Agreement during a speech in which he thrice referred to his country by its future official name of North Macedonia. The terms of the Prespa Agreement allow his country to join NATO under the new name of North Macedonia.

Zaev spoke at a ceremony outside the government’s headquarters where the NATO flag was raised alongside the national flag. The ceremony was attended by North Macedonian governmental ministers, NATO staff and ambassadors from NATO member-states.

All of NATO’s twenty-nine current member nations must ratify its accession, and Slovenia became the second country to do so on Tuesday, after Greece.

A government press release said the young country now is formally called the Republic of North Macedonia. A series of practical adjustments – ranging from new road signs to updated passports and currency — will be made gradually, and started with the government website late Tuesday.